Farming by community: Local farms using a year-round, community-based model

MIC NICOSIA/Register Citizen
The Barden Farm in New Hartford is among a number of area farms taking part in the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) Program, which provides customers with a share of the season's harvest. Purchase a glossy print of this photo and more at www.registercitizen.com.

Area farmers are using programs in which customers pay before the start of the growing season and receive produce and meat later.

Community Supported Agriculture programs enable farmers to generate revenue in the winter, enabling them to buy fertilizer, equipment, livestock, seeds and other supplies.

Barden Farm at 45 Burgoyne Heights Road in New Hartford offers contracts with customers at a rate of $500 per season and $250 per half a season. Cara Donovan, daughter of Ed and Anita Barden, explains that the program supports local farmers by keeping money in the local community.

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"Buying food from a local farm producer helps stimulate the local economy," Donovan said. "The earliest crops should be available in May. ... The exact time in May depends on Mother Nature."

A senior majoring in agricultural science at the State University of New York at Cobleskill, Donovan plans to return to work at her family farm.

"There are only so many ways to avoid corporate America and fast-food junk," Donovan, 20, said.

Barden Farm sells more than 39 crops including onions, carrots, broccoli, sweet corn, lettuce and cauliflower. Under the Barden Farm program, the customer receives four to ten different fresh items per week. Details are available online at http://bardenfarm.com/ (Click on CSA program) or by calling (860) 379-8803.

Joanne and Kenny Dahill raise chickens, ducks, rabbits, and other animals at MarWin Farm at 207 Steele Road in New Hartford. They offer a community supported agriculture program called FarmShare. Besides making a living, Joanne explained she likes to interact with their customers.

"Honestly I think it starts with the person first," Joanne Dahill said. "Some amount of education has made them interested in buying locally grow food."

"We like to push the culinary envelope," she said. "We use organic products."

In raising animals or raising crops, farmers face a myriad of challenges that are beyond their control. Even if MarWin Farms suffers setbacks for any reason, "we will make good on everything," Joanne Dahill said.

Mark and Carole Gauger raise upward of 40 crops including cucumbers, melons, turnips, garlic and zucchini from Maple View Farm at 276 Locust Road in Harwinton. They are preparing for their twelfth year offering the community supported agriculture program. Visit http://www.localharvest.org/farms/M3743 or call (860) 485-0815.

"There is a wide variety of products," Mark Gauger said. "You have a known quantity of people who are buying from you. ... In this way it makes it easier."

Maple View Farms guarantees it will provide produce to its customers for 16 weeks per season.

"We average 18 weeks over the long term, and average 20 weeks during the last three years," Mark Gauger said.

Connecticut is home to 4,090 farms, Rick Macsuga, marketing representative at the Connecticut Department of Agriculture, said. About 40 farms offer a community supported agriculture program.

"It is a nice way to market your product before it is in the ground," Macsuga said. "Some farms get loans from banks; some farms do not get loans from banks."

With 4,845 square miles of land and more than 3.5 million people, Connecticut is the fourth most densely populated state in the nation.